co-payment

noun

co-pay·​ment ˈkō-ˌpā-mənt 

ˌkō-ˈpā-

variants or co-pay

ˈkō-ˈpā 

or copay or less commonly copayment

plural co-payments or co-pays or copays also copayments

: a relatively small fixed fee that a health insurer (such as an HMO) requires the patient to pay upon incurring a medical expense (as for a routine office visit, surgical procedure, or prescription drug) covered by the health insurer

… patient out-of-pocket costs such as deductibles and co-payments have grown alongside overall [health care] costs.

—kvtz.com

… you can put away tax-sheltered dollars that can be used to pay out-of-pocket medical expenses, such as your doctor visit co-pays or other medical expenses not otherwise covered by your insurance.

—Philadelphia Inquirer

… employees currently have a 10% copay for prescriptions, whether they are purchased at the in-house pharmacy or a network pharmacy.

—Joyce Frieden

Examples of co-payment in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

For lower-income families enrolled in the online health exchanges, the ACA also includes Cost Sharing Reductions, which help offset deductibles and co-payments. —Robert Pearl, Forbes, 13 Jan. 2025

The co-payments range from as little as $3 to $30 to $100, per the New York Times. —Maya Goldman, Axios, 6 Jan. 2025

Sanders has also called for expanding Medicare with improved and comprehensive benefits, covering dental, hearing and vision care and phasing out insurance premiums, deductibles and co-payments. —Alexander Bolton, The Hill, 2 Jan. 2025

Medicare recipients will also have the new option of spreading their payments out over the course of the year, rather than paying a large co-payment all at once. —Berkeley Lovelace Jr., NBC News, 25 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1966, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

co-payment

noun

co-pay·​ment (ˈ)kō-ˈpā-mənt 

: a relatively small fixed fee that a health insurer (as an HMO) requires the patient to pay upon incurring a medical expense (as for a routine office visit, surgical procedure, or prescription drug) covered by the health insurer